You flag yourself for PvP on a PvE server. But you aren’t in the Plaguelands trying to capture towers. And you aren’t in Silithus collecting dust. You’re in Desolace killing skeletons.

There you are, level 36, Paladin, and you’ve flagged yourself. I suppose it guarantees you won’t heal anyone, or be asked to heal, or buff, them. Is that your goal? To be anti-social? “I’ve infected myself with a lethal virus. You want no part of me.” All you want to do is grind and be left alone, so you flag yourself?

You play on a PvE server by choice. I know I do. I played to 60, and into the end-game, on a PvP server. But I couldn’t bear my wife dying at the hands of some punk Night Elf, or worse, Gnome, Rogue. So we transferred. So you rolled on a PvE (RP) server. And then you flag yourself.

Okay, I see some folks doing it in order to show they have balls of steel, or they’re Warlocks. Who’s going to mess with a Warlock. In fact I’ve seen a few flagged Pally’s in the higher level areas. Who’s going to kill a high level Pally? How? They’ll heal to full twice, and you’ll be bored to tears before you even get close. Meh. Not worth it. And Pally’s have gotten sponge-worthy with the patches lately.

Anyway, seeing this level 36 flagged Pally in Desolace got me to thinking. What a terrible waste of my time to log onto my 60 Warrior, bring him all the way to Desolace, just to make her turn that damn flag off. Or, how long will she choose to remain flagged once I show up? How soon after I show up would she unflag? Five minutes?

I suspect it’s an anti-social thing.

Or a trap. Flag yourself. Cry “Heal me!” in Goldshire. Some noob gets flagged healing you. And your buddy, on his Horde Faction Rogue, goes to town on the noob.

What on earth, or Azeroth, are you thinking flagging yourself for PvP in Desolace? Or Elwynn. What is the point??!

3 Responses to

I dunno, you could see it form the other direction too. As someone who plays exclusively on a PvP server, the whole “Red is Dead” mentality people seem to have on there is completely infuriating to me.

I come from Ultima Online, where you could attack whoever you wanted whenever you wanted, as long as you were willing to face some potentially serious repercussions. I picked a PvP server because it comes closer to that. I want to be able to solve problems with violence when I feel like it. That does NOT mean I attack every member of the opposing faction I see wandering around outside.

In fact I have never been the agressor in a world pvp situation. I don’t gank and I don’t attack people unless they attack me first. We have a name for that kind of anti-social behaviour where I come from, we call it PKing, and it’s regarded as something assholes do.

But that kind of mentality doesn’t work in WoW, where you get either the care-bare PvE servers or the slobbering button mashing wanker PKs on the PvP server. What’s a good player to do?

My wife is playing her first toon. Ever. (PvE server) First video game since Mario Bros. The first version of Mario.

So I’m sitting with her by the computer, and she’s minding her own business in Bloodhoof Village, a thoroughly noob area, and a flagged ?? Alliance comes nearby. Now she’s obviously a noob because she’s slow and jerky at the controls. I warn her not to click on the flagged Alliance, and we’re good.

Then I notice a whisper from a Horde (in AB, strangely enough) to click her picture and turn on PvP, but worded slyly so as to trick a noob.

To me, that was really cold. Colder, too, because it was seemed coordinated, planned, and targeted at noobs. And worse yet, a ?? will get no honor for such a kill – it was just pure meanness.

Some people.

And that’s exactly why I’ve avoided the PvP servers. I’d love the challenge, but some people are out for nothing more than to ruin another person’s fun.

Perhaps the paladin had just recently (or inadvertently) buffed a passing flagged person. With so many people off in Outlands, no reason to wait for the flag to drop before going about your business.

Assuming that you observed this person for more than 5 minutes, another explanation could actually role-playing. The character could be a rough-tough Horde-hater or something, and part of the whole concept could involve combat anywhere, any time.

Baiting noob players notwithstanding, one aspect of the PvE server is not that you *can’t* or *don’t* PvP, it’s that it must be consensual. So flagging yourself is just a notice “If you care to fight, I’m up for that.”

Long ago, my first ever non-BG HK came about that way, with an Undead Rogue who flagged and ran up to me — jumping around and trying to provoke a fight. He was actually my level (mid 30s at the time), so I thought “Yeah, he probably has a 60 friend stealthed around here somewhere.” But what the hey. *My* roleplaying take on this particular character was a brash, over-confident Warrior, so what the hey. I flagged and we mixed it up. And….

No one appeared to gank me.

After the fight, I also had a few on-the-alert moments until flag dropped. I was actually a bit glad to see the Bruisers.

But my point is that sometimes on PvE servers, people are just looking for some consensual PvP action. And I think that’s perfectly okay, because it’s easily avoidable.

That scrum at the portal during the event week before last is a different story…